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We chat with Leeah Sloan, PA-C, co-chair of the Critical Care APP Steering Committee for the American College of CHEST Physicians (CHEST), about the newly available CHEST critical care certification for APPs.
This CHEST APP certification seems like a money grab. Supposedly created to help new grad APPs who aren’t getting the appropriate onboarding when they are hired, but then the course requires 3 years of APP experience in critical care before being able to take it? $300 to take the test, but you need to know what to study right? Lucky for us they have an essential program for only $500 to prepare. But wait, do you want to know what the questions will look like, don’t worry, for only another $239, you can get practice questions as well. All to help new grad APPs, who aren’t really new grads anymore, get a certification that no one knows about, or requires.
Sounds like the ICU Academy from you guys is a much better deal.
It’s a valid point (and thanks for the plug!). I think we have to acknowledge dual facets of most governance efforts by large societies: they can be both revenue generators and also worthwhile, patient-oriented productions. Which of those angles starts the ball rolling (i.e. the “real” motivator) is probably moot as long as both are true, since without making money (at least enough to cover costs, though probably more), big expensive projects usually cannot continue.
An easy parallel is to board certifications exams for physicians, which are serious money-makers, but are probably a net good. Or for that matter, residency/fellowship programs for docs, which are also big business but nevertheless an essential part of modern medical training.
Ideally, I see this certification as having a similar function to those board exams: not meant for “day one” trainees, nor necessarily for ten-year veterans, but creating a rubric for early trainees that can guide their training/studying, and over time establishing a standard that more and more of APPs in the specialty could be expected to meet. I don’t expect a cardiology fellow to know everything on their boards on their first day, but they should know it by the end of their fellowship, which is why I can reasonably expect a certain level of knowledge if I refer a patient to them. I don’t know anything equivalent about a critical care APP, other than the fact that they presumably know enough not to be fired by their employer.